College Counseling

The College Counselors at The Governor’s Academy appreciate the unique importance the college search holds for our students. We are dedicated to fully supporting students and their families while helping make the college process as engaging (and fun) as possible! We look forward to working with you and your family as you prepare for one of your most important—and, perhaps, most rewarding—endeavors to date!

A Unique Approach:

Student-centered process that supports the broader work of the Academy (intellectual life, character, leadership, personal responsibility, etc.).

Students learn the importance of advocating for themselves, sharpening their communication with adults and peers alike.

Students assess their skills and accomplishments and learn to set goals based on their personal discoveries and on the research they gather.

Students understand the importance of applying to a range of colleges with varying rates of admission that yield their best college choices.

The College Counseling Curriculum Includes:

• All juniors participate in a College Research Seminar to both identify and apply the resources available to them.
• Essay Writing Workshop required of all juniors in the spring.
• Athletic Recruitment Seminar.
• Naviance (web-based tool to help organize the college process and to facilitate communication with each student's college counselor).
• Academic Approach Standardized Test Prep-- available to juniors at no additional cost.  Review includes two SAT diagnostics and follow-up tutorial sessions.
  

The college process at Governor’s builds on the Academy’s commitment to developing collaborative thinkers, prepared to make wise and enduring decisions. As their college search begins, Academy students are encouraged to articulate their values, consider what motivates them, and appreciate how their actions make a difference in the lives of others. This broad approach holds practical application as students learn to match their diverse personal and school experiences with the colleges they choose to pursue.

Beginning junior year, students engage fully in the process of identifying and researching optimal college matches. By partnering with one of our experienced college counselors, students use wide-ranging research resources (including Naviance, leading college guides, and educational blogs including The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Head Count and The New York Times’s The Choice). In addition, the College Counseling Office conducts college research seminars, an essay writing workshop, SAT prep sessions, mock college interviews, and an optional athletic recruitment session.

The College Counseling team at Governor’s brings years of experience to each student’s college search—both as college counselors and admission officers within highly selective universities. This experience, combined with purposeful focus on student development, offers students unique insight into today’s college admission landscape-- and contributes to their informed sense of self. In addition to individual work with students, our counselors maintain longstanding rapport with college admission officers and participate fully in national educational and college admission organizations.